BT's chief executive has been questioned regarding the true cost of rolling out fibre optic broadband across the UK.

Ian Livingston claimed in an interview with the Financial Times that BT would be able to deploy super-fast broadband to 90 per cent of the UK if the telecoms giant secured the majority of £830 million of funding from the BBC licence fee.

However, Computer Weekly blogger Ian Grant pointed out the company has previously stated it will cost £2.5 billion to make the technology available to two-thirds of properties.

"Now Livingston appears to be suggesting that BT can supply broadband to 24 per cent of UK homes that are even more expensive to reach, for only £830 million of public money," the journalist remarked.

Mr Grant called on someone to clarify how these numbers add up.

Last week, BT announced it is currently receiving more than 4,000 orders a week for its fibre broadband service, known as BT Infinity.

Add a comment

Comment

Your name

Your e-mail address

Comments (0)